Is South Africa the economic gateway to ‘Africa’?

South Africa’s oft-repeated role as a “gateway” to African markets was given renewed impetus by President Jacob Zuma during this year’s summit of Brics countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa—in China. But so far, the gateway role of South Africa has not been analysed systematically. In a new report for the South African Institute of International Affairs, Peter Draper and Soren Scholvin systematically analyse what it means to be an economic gateway; whether South Africa qualifies as one; and what the limits to the gateway notion are.